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Chaldaea

(Encyclopedia)Chaldaea or Chaldea both: kăldēˈə [key], properly the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Sometimes it is extended to include Babylonia and thus comprises al...

Behaim, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Behaim, Behem, or Boeheim, Martin all: bāˈhīm [key], b. 1436? or 1459?, d. 1506?, German traveler and cosmographer. He studied (possibly under Regiomontanus) astronomy, navigation, and mathematics....

Bailly, Jean Sylvain

(Encyclopedia)Bailly, Jean Sylvain zhäN sēlvăNˈ bäyēˈ [key], 1736–93, French astronomer and politician. His works on astronomy and on the history of science (notably the Essai sur la théorie des satellite...

opposition

(Encyclopedia)opposition, in astronomy, alignment of two celestial bodies on opposite sides of the sky as viewed from earth. Opposition of the moon or planets is often determined in reference to the sun. Only the s...

Dyson, Sir Frank Watson

(Encyclopedia)Dyson, Sir Frank Watson dīˈsən [key], 1868–1939, English astronomer, b. Ashby-de-la-Zouch, grad. Cambridge. He was astronomer royal of Scotland (1905–10) and of England (from 1910). As director...

Celsius, Anders

(Encyclopedia)Celsius, Anders änˈdərs sĕlˈsēŭs [key], 1701–44, Swedish astronomer. While professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Uppsala (1730–44), he traveled through Germany, France, and Italy, visiting...

Bhaskara

(Encyclopedia)Bhaskara əchärˈyə [key] [Skt.,=learned], b. 1114, Indian mathematician and astronomer. According to the custom, he put his learned treatises into verse, adding, however, explanations in prose. His...

perturbation

(Encyclopedia)perturbation pŭrˌtərbāˈshən [key], in astronomy and physics, small force or other influence that modifies the otherwise simple motion of some object. The term is also used for the effect produce...

Wren, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilia...

mass-luminosity relation

(Encyclopedia)mass-luminosity relation, in astronomy, law stating that the luminosity of a star is proportional to some power of the mass of the star. More massive stars are in general more luminous. For stars on t...